IBPS GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1. Which of the following places was known as a centre of learning in ancient India?
(1) Nalanda

(2) Ujjain

(3) Allahabad

(4) None of these

Ans: (1)

2. Which of the following is not a carbohydrate?
(1) Wax

(2) Starch

(3) Sucrose

(4) Maltose

Ans: (1)
3. Deficiency of which vitamin causes night blindness?
(1) Vit. B

(2) Vit. C

(3) Vit. A

(4) Vit. E

Ans: (3)
4. Who conducts the State Assembly Elections?
(1) Chief Justice of the High Court concerned.

(2) Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

(3) Chief Election Commissioner

(4) Governor of the State concerned

Ans: (3)

5. Infrastructure sector recorded a growth of what per cent in Novemberr 2011 after touching five-year low of 0.3% in October 2011 due to an impressive growth in cement, electricity and refinery products?
(1) 2.3%

(2) 3.9%

(3) 4.6%

(4) 6.8%

Ans: (4)
6. According to the RBI data, India's foreign exchange reserves fell by what amount to $302.1 billion during the week ended 16 December  2011 on account of a fall in foreign currency assets?

(1) $4.67 billion

(2) $3.33 billion

(3) $5 billion

(4) $5.75 billion

Ans: (1)

7. Lok Sabha on 27 December 2011 passed the Lokpal and Lokayukta bill, 2011. Consider the following statements:
i) The setting up of Lokayuktas by the states would not be mandatory.

ii) The constitutional amendment bill fell through.

Choose the right option:

(1) Both i and ii are correct.

(2) Only i is correct.

(3) Only ii is correct.

(4) Neither i nor ii is correct.

Ans: (1)

8. The enigmatic leader of North Korea Kim who led his nation for 17 years through a devastating famine while frustrating the United States and other global powers with approach to talks on giving up nuclear arms in return for food and other assistanceon died on 17 December 2011 after he suffered a massive heart attack. Name the leader

(1) Kim Jong-il

(2) Kim Il-sung

(3) Kim Jong-un

(4) Kim Jong-chul

Ans: (1)

9. Who defeated ace badminton player and World No. 4 Saina Nehwal of India in the women’s singles final of the $500000 BWF World Super Series badminton championship in China on 18 December 2011?
(1) Zhang Ning

(2) Xie Xingfang

(3) Xu Huaiwen

(4) Wang Yihan

Ans: (4)
10. NASA's Kepler mission discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. These planets are called ___ and____.
(1) Kepler-20e; Kepler-20f

(2) Kepler-20a; Kepler-20b

(3) Kepler-20c; Kepler-20d

(4) Kepler-20m; Kepler-20n

Ans: (1)

11. Which of the following is not a function of a commercial bank?

(1) Providing project finance

(2) Selling Mutual Funds

(3) Deciding policy rates like CRR, Repo Rates/SLR etc.

(4) Settlement of payments on behalf of the customers

Ans: (3)

12. An IPO is - 

(1). initial price offered by a private limited company to its shareholders

(2) an offer by an unlisted company for sale of its shares for the first time to the public

(3) used to increase the share capital of an unlisted company

(4) a book building process
Ans: (1)

13. Private equity investors, invest in a company based mainly on- 

(1) the age of the company

(2) the location of the company

(3) the activity undertaken-by the company

(4) the credibility and the valuation of the company

Ans: (4)

14. ‘Sub Prime Lending' is a term applied to the loans made to-

(1) Those borrowers who do not have a good credit history

(2) Those who wish to take loan against the mortgage of tangible assets

(3) Those who have a good credit history and are known to bank since 10 years

(4) Those borrowers who are most preferred customers of the Bank

Ans: (1)

15. Which regulatory body on 16 August 2011 suggested that the Centre and the State governments should come out with a regulatory framework for the realty sector to protect consumers from unfair trade practices?

(1) IRDA

(2) SEBI

(3) FICCI

(4) CCI
Answer: (4)

New supervisory action structure for urban co-ops unveiled

The Reserve Bank of India has unveiled a revised Supervisory Action Framework for urban co-operative banks (UCBs) whereby in the initial stage of deterioration in their financial position, self corrective action by banks' management is envisaged.

If necessary steps are not taken to improve their financials or the steps taken do not result in the required improvement in the financial position of the UCB, the Reserve Bank will step in and initiate supervisory actions as it deems necessary.

If the capital-to-risk-weighted assets ratio falls below 9 per cent or there is deterioration in asset quality or decline in profits, liquidity constraints and so on, the management of the UCB should take necessary corrective actions, on its own, with a view to improve the financial position of the bank, the RBI said in a notification.

The RBI would commence active monitoring of the performance of the bank if the self-corrective action by UCB does not work.

Under RBI supervision, the UCBs would, in the first stage, be required to submit to the RBI an action plan for improving their performance in the specific areas where there is a deterioration or cause of concern.

The second stage of the RBI's supervisory action would be in the form of pre-emptive action aimed at arresting further deterioration in the financial position of the bank.

In case of deposit erosion up to 10 per cent, the UCB will be advised to explore options for merger with another bank. If the deposits erosion is beyond 10 per cent and up to 25 per cent, the bank will be prohibited from acceptance of fresh deposits and repayment of deposits.

A showcause notice will be issued for cancellation of the licence of the bank in case of deposit erosion in excess of 25 per cent.

IDBI Bank launches online retail G-Sec portal

IDBI Bank today launched the country’s first online G-Sec portal ‘Samriddi’ to enable retailers to purchase government bonds and securities for high yield. Pursuant to RBI’s desire that government bonds and securities should be made a popular mode of investment for retailers, the bank has taken the lead and launched the Samriddhi G-Sec portal for the purpose. A retailer can log on to the portal and register with it for online purchase of government bonds and securities for high annualized yield. Observing that retail investors’ participation in government bonds and securities were much lower in India than countries like Japan, Mexico and Argentina, he said IDBI Bank will launch a series of awareness programmes to attract the retail investors.

Electronic Accounting System in Excise and Service Tax (EASIEST)

In August 2004, a HPC was set up in the RBI for "setting up facilities for on-line transmission of Tax Payment Data from Banks to Central Excise Dept. under the Chairmanship of Shri J. N. Nigam (Member) CBEC. The terms of reference of the Committee included recommending: modalities for dematerialization of Challans, setting up and implementing a fully automated safe and secure system of receipt and transmission of information relating to tax payments, new business processes for operationalising the scheme, overall policy frame work for the industry etc. Members included Director General (Systems), CBEC, Principle Chief Controller of Accounts (CBEC), Controller General of Accounts, representatives from Corporate Sector, RBI and IBA.
At the first meeting of the HPC on 24th September 2005, it was decided that the project may be implemented in two phases viz. the first Excise and then Service Tax. It was decided to constitute 2 sub-committees: a Technical Sub-committee under Shri R. N. Ramanathan, DMD, SBI to work out the technical requirements of the project and a Sub-committee on Accounting Procedure chaired by Shri V. N. Kaila, Pr. CCA, CBEC to work out the accounting procedures for the project.
NSDL was identified as the intermediary for the transmission of Tax Information. In place of the quadruplicate, only a single copy of the challan would be submitted and the tear off portion containing the Challan Identification Number (CIN) would be handed over by the collecting bank branch to the assessee. The CIN number is the unique identifier for a challan. It consists of the Challan Number, Date of submission of Challan and the BSR code of the collecting branch. A combination of the three helps to identify the challan uniquely. The Technical Sub-committee worked out the file structures, the work flow etc. for the on-line transmission of tax-data based on the concept paper submitted by the CBEC.
The second HPC meeting was held at RBI on 5th November 2004. At the meeting, it was decided to start a Pilot at Chennai limiting the Pilot to Excise in the first phase. Thus, a pilot was started at Chennai from 17th January 2005 involving 5 branches of each of the 8 banks authorized to collect excise at Chennai. A single copy challan with a tearoff counterfoil called GR7 was introduced during the Chennai pilot.
On 1st June 2005, the Pilot was extended to all the 400 branches in and around Chennai, covering all the 4 commissionerates in Chennai.

EASIEST process Document.

Process to be followed at collecting branch

• Collecting branches to capture Challan details on the date of receipt of the challan irrespective of Cash or clearing cheques. This will ensure automatic capture of tender date by the system.
• Provision to be made for automatic capture of the following fields for every challan as a part of data entry:-
  1. BSR Code of Collecting Branch
  2. Challan tendered date
  3. Challan Sequence Number (CIN)
  4. BSR Code of Focal Point Branch.
  All these fields to be automatically captured by the system and should not be normally editable fields. In case of a need to edit any of these fields for some reason, it should be possible only on the basis of a supervisor authorization.
• Data entry software should identify the concerned Major Head from the Assessee code itself and the 8 digit reduced account codes needs to be selected from pop-up only. In case the Assessee code is not available or not validated, the software should provide option to select the Major Head and reduced account code through pull down menu only.
• System to provide the facility for data entry of Assessee Code. Once the Assessee Code is entered, the same will be validated against the Assessee Master provided by NSDL.
• Banks should periodically update the Assessee Master through the patches provided by NSDL.
• In case the Assessee Code is not available in the master, then software to prompt the user to Capture Name & Address of the Assessee. In addition, system to ensure capture of Location Code. If the complete Location Code is not available, bank should ensure capture of the first two digit (Commissionerate Code) correctly may be after confirming from the taxpayer and the other four digits can be filled as zeros. This will enable Commissionerate -wise scrolling of challans.
• If the Assessee Code is valid, then the Name and Address, Location Code etc are to be automatically be picked up from the Assessee Master and no editing of these fields should be allowed.
• All other mandatory fields are to be captured on the date of tender. In case mandatory details mentioned in challan are not captured, software to prompt User to capture same.
• Software should have Maker and checker feature for data entry. Software should generate Challan number (CIN) based on date of tender.
• At EOD, all realized payments to be compiled and date of realization for the same will be captured by the system automatically. For Cash transactions, cheque realization date to be the same as date of tender.
• Each challan will be given a running serial number based on its item number in the scroll. This number is to be allotted while scrolling the challans Commissionerate-wise and Major Head-wise for the day. The item number of the challan in the scroll will be number and to be captured in the new field BR_SCR_ITEM_SL. Physical challans needs to be arranged under the hard copy of the computer generated scroll in the seriatim of BR_SCR_ITEM_SL number.
• At EOD, the software to generate daily scrolls Commissionerate-wise and Major Head-wise. The scroll number and scroll date appears on the system generated scroll should be captured automatically in the electronic string also. This will help in having synchronization of electronic data and physical documents.
• Subsequently, file to be generated which can be transmitted to Focal Point Branch for further processing along with Physical scrolls & challans.

Process to be followed at Focal Point Branch (FPB)

• Software to provide only view facility to the FPB
• System to provide a facility to view scroll details and also underlying challans.
• On receipt of physical scrolls from the collecting branches, details of the scroll to be verified against the electronic data.
• In case of error, erroneous file to be reported back to the collecting branch and the file relating to that branch to be withheld.
• Remaining valid and verified files to be compiled and main scrolls are to be generated Commissionerate-wise and Major Head-wise.
• The Main Scroll number and scroll date appearing on the hard copy of the system generated scroll should be same in the electronic string also.
• Only the branch scrolls against which the physical challans have been reached the FPB and verified for its correctness against the corresponding electronic string to be consolidated to be uploaded to link cell and then to NSDL.
• Hard copy of the System generated Main scrolls together with the hard copy of receiving branch scrolls and underlying physical challans are to be sent to PAO.
• Hard copy of the receiving branch scrolls and underlying physical challans are to be arranged under the Hard copy of the Main scroll in seriatim as they appear on the Main scroll before sending the same to PAO.

On-Line Tax Accounting System(OLTAS)

The advisory Group on Tax Reforms under the Chairmanship of Dr. Vijay Kelkar had recommended networking of Income Tax Department, Banks and Reserve Bank of India to facilitate On-line Transmission of details regarding tax collection/refund, etc. between banks and offices of Income Tax Department and also RBI for settlement of funds.
To examine the various issues relating to implementation of the Kelkar Committee recommendations stated above, the RBI constituted a High Power Committee in February 2003, under the Chairmanship of Shri B. Swarup, Member (Inv.), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to recommend suitable measures in this regard. Chairman, IBA was a Member of this Committee.
The High Power Committee under the aegis of the RBI constituted a Sub-Group on Business Processess Designing for the OLTAS, under the Chairmanship of Shri C.B. Bhave, Managing Director, NSDL, Mumbai and Chief Executive, IBA as one of its members. The Group recommended that a Single Copy Challan should be adopted for payment of taxes as recommended by Kelkar Committee for simplifying the process for the tax payer. Accordingly, Single Copy Challan has been introduced in place of 4 Copy Challans from 1st June 2004.
The High Power Committee constituted a Technical Sub-Committee, chaired by Shri R.N. Ramanathan, Dy. Managing Director (IT), State Bank of India and with representatives from Income-tax Department (Systems), Controller of Accounts, CBDT, RBI and IBA, to address all issues for conducting pilot studies on On-Line Tax Accounting System (OLTAS). The Technical Sub-Committee held several meetings in the IBA and finalized the record structure and file format for the On-Line Transmission of tax information from the collecting banks to the TIN (Tax Information Network at NSDL) and the Income Tax Department. The Technical Committee also finalized the modalities for conducting pilot studies on OLTAS and three pilots were launched between June 2003 and April 2004:-

Phase I	Phase II	Phase III
Conducted from 9th June 2003 to 15th July 2003 involving selected branches of 15 Public Sector Banks in the 4 Metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata	Conducted from 1st Sep. to 15th Nov. 2003. During this phase, the no. of centres were increased to 8 viz. the four metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai and Cities of Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune.	Conducted from 1st Dec. 2003 to 31st May 2004. No. of participating banks increased from 15 to 19 incl.HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank and UTI Bank. From 1st Feb. 2004, the 12 remaining banks collecting IT also joined the Pilot, thus bringing the total no. tax collecting banks to 32 including RBI

Originally, the Pilot on OLTAS was confined only to the corporate tax payers, however, after 15th February 2004, the project covered both corporate and individual tax payers and finally, from 1st June 2004, the Pilot went All-India, covering all the authorized branches of the 32 participating banks all over the country. Several measures were taken to ensure smooth operations under the OLTAS. A crack team was setup in the IBA with members from CBDT, RBI, NSDL, SBI and banks for resolving problems immediately before and after the launch of the OLTAS project. A central technical help desk was setup at every bank to attend quickly to technical problems at the bank level. Additional arrangements for receipt of tax challans and help desks were setup at collecting branches to clarify the queries that may be raised by the assesses at the branch level during peak time. Declared under the Mission Mode, the OLTAS project is monitored at the highest levels.
Settlement of funds under OLTAS:

Originally, the OLTAS Project covered only the tax information data. The funds collected by the bank branches followed the manual mode and was reconciled with the paper scrolls sent to the ZAO. However, from 1st April 2005, the OLTAS Pilot Project was commercially rolled out and the settlement of funds was also migrated to on-line mode. Thus, from 1st April 2005, the banks had to reconcile funds collected on a day to day basis with the electronic data reported by banks to TIN.
With over 12000 branches reporting tax data, there were several issues related to quality of data being uploaded to TIN. For overseeing all such issues, the High Powered Committee has constituted a Monitoring Group under the Chairmanship of Member (Revenue), CBDT. The Committee meets regularly and addresses areas of concern. At its recent meeting held on 30th January 2006, the Group discussed the following issues among others:
a) Of the 12000 total number of branches collecting taxes, 60 were found not to be reporting to TIN. These were found to be mainly those that had nil collections over several months/ years and had applied for delisting.
b) While number of challans with missing PAN / TAN were negligible, the number of records with fictitious / non-existent PAN / TAN continued to be approximately 10%. For addressing this issue, various measures were discussed and agreed upon. These included introducing bar-coded pre-printed challans, verifying PAN / TAN entry against a regional database provided by the Income-Tax department, using the bulk query facility of the Income Tax department, etc. It was decided that in certain cases, the banks could also request for a copy of the PAN / TAN card from the tax payer.
c) Reconciliation of the funds settled with the RBI and the OLTAS data transmitted by banks on day-to-day basis. The difference for January 2006 was found to be only 2.46 crores while the total tax collection was Rs.7327.40 crores.
With concerted effort from the CBDT, RBI, the banks and the IBA, the On-line Tax Accounting for the Direct Taxes has become a reality. This project is one of its kind in the whole world.

Banking terms for interview

RBI – The Reserve Bank of India is the apex bank of the country, which was constituted under the RBI Act, 1934 to regulate the other banks, issue of bank notes and maintenance of reserves with a view to securing the monetary stability in India.

Demand Deposit – A Demand deposit is the one which can be withdrawn at any time, without any notice or penalty; e.g. money deposited in a checking account or savings account in a bank.

Time Deposit – Time deposit is a money deposit at a banking institution that cannot be withdrawn for a certain "term" or period of time. When the term is over it can be withdrawn or it can be held for another term. 

Fixed Deposits – FDs are the deposits that are repayable on fixed maturity date along with the principal and agreed interest rate for the period. Banks pay higher interest rates on FDs than the savings bank account.

Recurring Deposits – These are also called cumulative deposits and in recurring deposit accounts, a certain amounts of savings are required to be compulsorily deposited at specific intervals for a specified period.

Savings Account – Savings account is an account generally maintained by retail customers that deposit money (i.e. their savings) and can withdraw them whenever they need. Funds in these accounts are subjected to low rates of interest.

Current Accounts – These accounts are maintained by the corporate clients that may be operated any number of times in a day. There is a maintenance charge for the current accounts for which the holders enjoy facilities of easy handling, overdraft facility etc.

FCNR Accounts – Foreign Currency Non-Resident accounts are the ones that are maintained by the NRIs in foreign currencies like USD, DM, and GBP etc. The account is a term deposit with interest rates linked to the international rates of interest of the respective currencies.

NRE Accounts – Non-Resident External accounts are the ones in which NRIs remit money in any permitted foreign currency and the remittance is converted to Indian rupees for credit to NRE accounts. The accounts can be in the form of current, saving, FDs, recurring deposits. The interest rates and other terms of these accounts are as per the RBI directives.

Cheque Book - A small, bound booklet of cheques. A cheque is a piece of paper produced by your bank with your account number, sort-code and cheque number printed on it. The account number distinguishes your account from other accounts; the sort-code is your bank's special code which distinguishes it from any other bank.

Cheque Clearing - This is the process of getting the money from the cheque-writer's account into the cheque receiver's account.

Clearing Bank - This is a bank that can clear funds between banks. For general purposes, this is any institution which we know of as a bank or as a provider of banking services.

Bounced Cheque - when the bank has not enough funds in the relevant account or the account holder requests that the cheque is bounced (under exceptional circumstances) then the bank will return the cheque to the account holder. The beneficiary of the cheque will have not been paid. This normally incurs a fee from the bank.

Credit Rating - This is the rating which an individual (or company) gets from the credit industry. This is obtained by the individual's credit history, the details of which are available from specialist organisations like CRISIL in India.

Credit-Worthiness - This is the judgement of an organization which is assessing whether or not to take a particular individual on as a customer. An individual might be considered credit-worthy by one organisation but not by another. Much depends on whether an organization is involved with high risk customers or not.

Interest - The amount paid or charged on money over time. If you borrow money interest will be charged on the loan. If you invest money, interest will be paid (where appropriate to the investment).

Overdraft - This is when a person has a minus figure in their account. It can be authorized (agreed to in advance or retrospect) or unauthorized (where the bank has not agreed to the overdraft either because the account holder represents too great a risk to lend to in this way or because the account holder has not asked for an overdraft facility).

Payee - The person who receives a payment. This often applies to cheques. If you receive a cheque you are the payee and the person or company who wrote the cheque is the payer.

Payer - The person who makes a payment. This often applies to cheques. If you write a cheque you are the payer and the recipient of the cheque is the payee.

Security for Loans - Where large loans are required the lending institution often needs to have a guarantee that the loan will be paid back. This takes the form of a large item of capital outlay (typically a house) which is owned or partly owned and the amount owned is at least equivalent to the loan required.

Internet Banking - Online banking (or Internet banking) allows customers to conduct financial transactions on a secure website operated by the bank.

Credit Card - A credit card is one of the systems of payments named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. It is a card entitling its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services.

Debit Card – Debit card allows for direct withdrawal of funds from customers bank accounts. The spending limit is determined by the available balance in the account.

Loan - A loan is a type of debt.  In a loan, the borrower initially receives or borrows an amount of money, called the principal, from the lender, and is obligated to pay back or repay an equal amount of money to the lender at a later time. There are different kinds of loan such as the house loan, auto loan etc.

Bank Rate - This is the rate at which central bank (RBI) lends money to other banks or financial institutions.   If the bank rate goes up, long-term interest rates also tend to move up, and vice-versa.

CRR - CRR means Cash Reserve Ratio.  Banks in India are required to hold a certain proportion of their deposits in the form of cash with Reserve Bank of India (RBI). This minimum ratio is stipulated by the RBI and is known as the CRR or Cash Reserve Ratio.  Thus, When a bank’s deposits increase by Rs100, and if the cash reserve ratio is 9%, the banks will have to hold additional Rs 9 with RBI and Bank will be able to use only Rs 91 for investments and lending / credit purpose. Therefore, higher the ratio (i.e. CRR), the lower is the amount that banks will be able to use for lending and investment.  This power of RBI to reduce the lendable amount by increasing the CRR makes it an instrument in the hands of a central bank through which it can control the amount that banks lend.  Thus, it is a tool used by RBI to control liquidity in the banking system.

SLR - SLR stands for Statutory Liquidity Ratio. This term is used by bankers and indicates the minimum percentage of deposits that the bank has to maintain in form of gold, cash or other approved securities.  Thus, we can say that it is ratio of cash and some other approved to liabilities (deposits). It regulates the credit growth in India. 

ATM - An automated teller machine (ATM) is a computerised telecommunications device that provides the clients with access to financial transactions in a public space without the need for a cashier, human clerk or bank teller. On most modern ATMs, the customer is identified by inserting a plastic ATM card with a magnetic stripe or a plastic smart card with a chip, that contains a unique card number and some security information such as an expiration date or CVV. Authentication is provided by the customer entering a personal identification number (PIN)

Corporation Bank's SHG-bank linkage programme bags Nabard award

Corporation Bank has bagged the ‘Best Performance Award 2010-11' in SHG-bank linkage in Karnataka from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard).

A bank release said that the bank has won this award for its ‘highest recovery performance in lending to SHG (self-help groups)' among all participating banks in Karnataka.

In Karnataka, Corporation Bank has financed 3,714 SHGs directly, to an extent of Rs 50.38 crore.

Since inception, the groups are guided on credit discipline and close follow up, due to which the recovery percentage is at a high at 92 per cent. For the creditable performance, the bank has been recognised with the best performance award by Nabard, it said.

Mr Amar Lal Daultani, Executive Director of Corporation Bank, received the award from Mr Umesh Katti, Karnataka Minister for Agriculture, in Bangalore on Wednesday. Mr Rama Murthy, General Manager of Corporation Bank, was present on the occasion.

FINANCIAL INCLUSION

Corporation Bank has actively implemented and operationalised its branchless banking model of financial inclusion in 3,216 locations in the country at the end of January. Apart from southern states, the bank has also expanded to states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab and West Bengal.

The bank has opened 14.12 lakh ‘no-frill' savings accounts with a balance of Rs 54.82 crore and around 24,000 general credit cards with an outstanding balance of Rs 33 crore, the release added.

ATM outsourcing by banks catching on

Public sector banks are increasingly looking at outsourcing the operation and maintenance of their automated teller machines (ATMs).

As of now, tenders have been notified for over 40,000 ATMs in various States to outsource ATMs by a consortium of public sector banks. The Finance Ministry had asked public sector banks to take this approach to effect economies of scale. There is a lead bank for each State or geographical cluster which places the order on behalf of the consortium.

In the outsourced ATM model, a bank will not have any role in installation, maintenance and management of services of ATMs and cash dispensers unlike the own-ATM model currently in use.

Payments will be made to ATM vendors on per-transaction basis.

Banks are still cagey about the cost-advantage likely in the outsourced model. But sources say, the main driver for the outsourced ATM model is a perceived 10-20 per cent savings in cost per transaction.

“The main hassle in managing ATMs is their maintenance. There are increasing problems in operational aspects of the cash dispenses such as satellite link failure, electricity and security issues. We will not have to worry about this in the outsourced ATMs,” said a senior official of Andhra Bank.

However, not all banks are keen to outsource ATMs. Indian Bank, for instance, prefers to have it own ATMs.

When asked about the cost-advantage in outsourcing model, he said it would depend on a variety of factors and can differ from bank to bank due to individual agreements on transaction-based payments.

According to RBI data, there are 87,000 ATMs in the country.

Forex reserves increase by $1.62 billion

The foreign currency reserves surged by $1.607 billion to $295.047 billion for the week ended February 24, after a modest rise in the earlier week. In the earlier week, forex reserves had increased by $55.8 million to $293.439 billion

The increase in reserves was mainly on account of currency revaluation.

According to the Reserve Bank of India's Weekly Statistical Supplement, foreign currency assets, in the week under review, increased by $1.567 billion to $261.101 billion. Foreign currency assets expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as euro, sterling, yen held in reserves.

Gold was unchanged at $26.727 billion.

SDRs increased by $25.3 million to $4.480 billion and the country's reserves in the IMF increased by $15.2 million to $2.737 billion.

GENERAL AWARENESS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1. Which of the following statement (s) reflects India’s stand on new World Trade Organization’s proposal on the issue of the subsidy to agro products ?
(1) India would protect the interest of its poor farmers who can not bear the burden of the cost of the products if they have to sell them on cheaper rate.
(2) Indian industry needs more flexibility as compared to the industry in developed countries.
(3) WTO has set up a new committee under the chairmanship of Putin of Russia to look into the issue of subsidy and find out a solution to the problem acceptable to all the parties.
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) Both 1 & 2
(E) None of these

2. Which of the following statement (s) is / are true about the 11th five year plan of India ?
(1) The highest priority is given to exports , education and development of steel sector.
(2) The plan aims at achieving the growth at 10 % level by the end of the plan.
(3) The Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana is revived in such a way so that it can be achieve a growth nof 4 % for agriculture sector.
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) Both 1 & 2
(E) None of these

3. As per the figures released recently the Stock markets in emerging economies made handsome returns last year (2007-08). Which of the following stock markets amongst the BRIC nations registered highest increased (97 %) compared to its performance in 2006-07 ?
(A) Cina
(B) Brazil
(C) Russia
(D) India
(E) None of these

4. Bayana which was in news recently is a place in -
(A) Uttar Pradseh
(B) Madhya Pradseh
(C) Bihar
(D) Haryana
(E) Rajasthan

5. Which of the following statement (s) is / are correct about the Indo-Russia Bilateral Defence Ties ?
(1) Both the countries have decided to produce a fifth generation fighter aircraft and a multi role cargo plane.
(2) India has agreed to launch Russian missiles from its base at Chandipur incase some other nation attacks on Russia
(3) India and Russia were able to sort out differences over the utilization of Rupee debt fund which is of Rs. 8000 Crore at present.
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) Both 1 & 3 only
(E) None of these

6. India has recently decided to put a wire fence on the 76 km. long border in Dhudri district in Assam. The fence will separate India from -
(A) Nepal
(B) China
(C) Bangladesh
(D) Myanmar
(E) Pakistan
ANS (C)

7. As we all know the Govt. of India is very keen about providing banking service to the people in rural and remote areas . However , banks feel that the cost of providing services in these areas for financial inclusion is quite high if services are offered through the “traditional branch channel “. What is / are the other alternative cost effective channel (s) to fulfill this aim of the Govt. of India ?
(1) Putting biometric ATMs.
(2) Introduce mobile banking.
(3) Issue credit or debit cards
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) All 1,2 & 3
(E) None of these

8. The Govt. of India recently issued a notification altering constituencies in 24 States and Union territories. This is done as per the provision of which of the following Acts?
(A) Delimitation Act
(B) Census Act
(C) Parliament Act
(D) State Reorganization Act
(E) None of these

9. As we read very frequently in the newspaper fraudulent activities in financial world is still continuing despite various efforts made by various countries to prevent them. As an estimate by IMF, what is the probable amount derived from such illegal activities which is laundered through the world’s formal financial systems every year? About -
(A) US$ 500 billion
(B) US$ 800 billion
(C) US$ 1000 billion
(D) US$ 1250 billion
(E) US$ 1500 billion

10. Indian Prime Minister during his visit the Arunachal Pradesh a few months back asserted that the State is India’s Land of Rising Sun. Which of the following countries did not like his statement and had raised some objection over his visit to Arunachal Pradesh which is very much a part of India?
(A) Myanmar
(B) China
(C) Bangladesh
(D) Bhutan
(E) Nepal

11. Which of the following is the amount of insurance cover provided to the workers of the unorganized sector under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana?
(A) Rs. 10,000/-
(B) Rs. 20,000/-
(C) Rs. 30,000/-
(D) Rs. 40,000/-
(E) Rs. 50,000/-

12. Which of the following is NOT one of the highlights Economic Survey presented in the Lok Sabha for the year 2007-08?
(A) Economy has “moved to higher growth phase”
(B) A trend of acceleration in domestic investment and saving rate is recorded.
(C) Buoyant growth in Govt. revenue.
(D) Indian Economy at market rate of exchange crossed 1 trillion US$ in current fiscal.
(E) Net Foreign direct Investment increased by 350 % .

13. Which of the following is / are correct about sub prime crisis which was in news recently?
(1) It has reduced the flow of capital coming of Indian Stock Markets.
(2) The sub prime crisis is the major financial crisis whose origin is in the Russia and Brazil. It has adversely affected the economy of Europe and USA.
(3) The crisis started when some people started trading with false Share certificates of major blue chip US companies in the stock markets.
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) Both 1 & 2
(E) None of these
ANS ()

14. The Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) has a target to connect all habitations of which of the following levels with all weather roads by 2008-09?
(A) 1000+
(B) 2000+
(C) 3000+
(D) 4000+
(E) None of these

15. As we all know the value of the Indian rupee has appreciated in the recent past . The value of the Rupee is direct dependent on which of the following?
(A) Availability of commodities in the market.
(B) VAT introduced by the Govt. on various commodities.
(C) Size of total Forex Reserve of India currently.
(D) Capital flow in the market during a given period of time.
(E) None of these

16. Which of the following banks has taken over the Centurion Bank of Punjab?
(A) ICICI Bank
(B) IDBI Bank
(C) HDFC Bank
(D) AXIS Bank
(E) None of these

17. As per provision made in Bharat Nirman programme the pace of creation of irrigation facilities is required to be raised from present level of 1.42 million hectare per year in such a way so that it can achieve the target level fixed for the same?
(A) 1.50 million hectares / year
(B) 1.75 million hectares / year
(C) 2.00 million hectares / year
(D) 2.25 million hectares / year
(E) 2.50 million hectares / year

18. Inflation has become major area of concern in India these days. What measures do the Govt. pf India / RBI normally take to control the same?
(1) Fixation of Maximum Price of the Commodities
(2) System of Dual prices.
(3) Increased in supply of food grains.
(4) Control on credit and liquidity in market.
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) Only 2,3 & 4
(E) All 1,2,3 & 4

19. How much edcation cess is being levied on all the taxes to support elementary education for the children of age group of 6-14 years under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)?
(A) 0.50%
(B) 0.75%
(C) 1.00%
(D) 1.5O%
(E) 2.00%

20. Which of the following is / are correct about various concessions given in the Union Budget for 2008-09?
(1) Five years tax holidays for setting up hospitals in Tier II & Tier III regions for providing health care in rural areas.
(2) Commodities tax transaction to be introduced.
(3) Banking cash transaction tax withdrawn.
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) Only 2 & 3
(E) All 1,2 & 3

21. Which of the following statements reflects the aim (s) Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)?
(1) Give focused attention to integrated development of infrastructure in selected cities.
(2) Provide basic services to the urban poors
(3) Scale up civic amenities and provision of utilities in urban areas.
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) All 1,2 & 3
(E) None of these

22. The Press Freedom Day is observed on which of the following days?
(A) 1st May
(B) 1st June
(C) 3rd May
(D) 3rd June
(E) 10th June

23. As per the decision taken by the Govt. of India now the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is extended to all the districts of India. This means it will now be applicable to about-
(A) 200 districts
(B) 300 districts
(C) 400 districts
(D) 500 districts
(E) 600 districts
ANS (E)

24. As per the reports published by the Ministry of Finance recently the overseas borrowings by the Corporates and currency fluctuation has gone up by which of the following percentage points? About -
(A) 1%
(B) 2%
(C) 3%
(D) 4%
(E) 5%

25. The Govt. of India and Reserve Bank of India is planning to set up an autonomous “ATM corporation of India” in which various banks can get together for common ATM operations. If this happens how will we all be benefited by the same?
(1) It will be a cost effective measure as each bank can share its operational cost with others.
(2) Clients can withdrawn money from any ATM from any location. They are not required to go to their banks’ ATM only.
(3) It will indirectly help the IT business also as India has a large pool of IT skilled manpower waiting for suitable placement.
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Both 1 & 2
(D) All 1,2 & 3
(E) None of these

26. As per the news published in various newspapers the Govt. of India has decided to create a Strategic Reserve of -
(A) Oil & Petroleum
(B) Rasoi Gas
(C) Food grains
(D) Cement & Steel
(E) None of these

27. The Govt. of India had constituted a high level committee on financial sector reforms with Raghuram G. Rajan as its Chairman. Which of the following is / are the recommendations of the committee?
(1) Liberalize the interest rate that banks/institution can charge to ensure credit for poors.
(2) Create an office of the Ombudsman exclusively for financial sector.
(3) Do not allow foreign investors in domestic stock markets.
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) Both 1 & 2
(E) None of these

28. Yves Leterme has taken over as the prime minister of -
(A) Newzealand
(B) Belgium
(C) Croatia
(D) Portugal
(E) None of these

29. The State Bank of India recently opened its 10000th branch in Puduvayal (Tamil Nadu). Only a bank in China has more branches than State Bank of India in the world. What is the name of that Chinese bank?
(A) Shanghai Commercial Bank
(B) Bank of China
(C) China Banking Corporation
(D) Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
(E) None of these

30. Many a times we read about ‘Globalization’ and its impact on business practice in India. Which of the following is NOT one of the important parameters of ‘Globalization’?
(1) Reduction of trade barriers to permit free flow of goods and services amongst various nations.
(2) Developing an environment in which free flow of capital can take place.
(3) Promoting local industry to cater to the needs of the consumers in Tier II and Tier III cities. The production from metros should be reserved only for exports.
(A) Only 1
(B) Only 2
(C) Only 3
(D) All 1,2 & 3
(E) Both 2 & 3

ANSWERS

1 - A    2 - D   3-D   4-E   5-A   6-C   7-B   8-A   9-D   10-B
11-C   12-E   13-   14-A   15-A   16-C   17-D   18-D   19-E
20-E   21-D   22-C   23-E   24-C   25-C   26-C   27-E   28-E
29-D   30-D